Messages posted by : J2SkiNews
As we reach the start of December it's becoming clearer exactly where we stand when it comes to the season start. The verdict is increasingly, "not that great, but not as bad a feared, so far". So a bit like normal with the picture for December still looking uncertain. Autumn has not been one to remember for ski areas. Still warmer and dryer than average after a hot summer glacier ski areas struggled to open much terrain and many planned autumn World Cup races in the Alps we cancelled. But the past fortnight has seen cold temperatures and light to moderate snowfall, particularly above around 1500-1800 metres. From social media posts you'd think it was a winter wonderland, but the reality is that resorts remain on catch up and most of what's opening is up high and with a thin base, but then it is only November… So all this boils down, today, to Avoriaz announcing it would open some high terrain earlier than expected, for a preview weekend this weekend. The Chavanette and Arare sectors will be open on Saturday and Sunday. But slightly lower La Clusaz which had hoped to open this weekend has decided to delay to the latter half of next weekend. More early opening of high terrain, delayed opening of lower terrain can be expected over the next few weeks. The good news is that although there's not really any big snowfalls forecast yet, temperatures are staying low for snowmakers and there are further frequent light to moderate snow showers. |
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Ski areas that are already open in the Alps are locked in their usual early season battle to see who can offer the most terrain to the first skiers keen to get on the slopes at the very start of the 22-23 season. The cross border Samnaun-Ischgl area has opened with 82km (51 miles) of slopes available, going straight in in the number one spot for already-open Austrian terrain. That said Solden, which is into its third month of 22-23 operations already, has upped its open ski slopes to 71km and with neighbouring Obergurgl on 54km that's 125km (78 miles) open on the one lift pass. Ischgl, Obergurgl and Solden are all in Austria's Tirol region which always has the most terrain open in the Alps from September to November, the province on its own having more than the total terrain open in France or Italy and probably Switzerland too in these autumn months. The Cervinia-Zermatt area which has opened over 150km (towards 100 miles) of slopes around late-November/early-December pre-pandemic, does not appear to be bothering to compete too hard yet, although it has opened cross-border terrain for the first time with skiing from Switzerland to Italy and 46km of slopes reported open. Elsewhere it is mostly Austrian glaciers next, all opening much more terrain than they've had open the past few months. Hintertux is up to 43km and the Stubai and Kaunertal both or 39km. |
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With snow falling across most of Europe's mountainous regions, the first ski areas outside of the Alps and Scandinavia, are set to start their ski seasons this weekend. Baqueira Beret (pictured above on 4th November), one of the largest resorts in the region, plans to open from Saturday and reports 30-40cm of snow lying already. Most other ski areas in the region plan to open the following weekend. In Andorra and Spain there's a public holiday weekend at the start of December so most are keen to be open for then if they can be. Snowfall in recent days has reached the continent's most southerly major ski resort at Sierra Nevada on Spain's Mediterranean Coasy and the most westerly at Serra da Estrella in Portugal. |
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A long-planned dry ski slope project at Par near St Austell in Cornwall has been given the green light by local councillors. The plans for the dry ski slope, to be called the Altitude Snow Park, were first announced in 2018, but the landowners since had to solves multiple planning issues before finally getting the go ahead to start construction. Dubbed "the biggest ski and snowboard slope in the South West" the centre will feature beginner, intermediate and advanced level runs, pictured at the top of the image above. Delays have included the need for archaeological surveys of the site and there nave ben a number of revisions made to the original plans to gain approval. The development, on what is currently agricultural land, will also include six homes, a visitor centre, additional car parking and the developers also plan to create a play area for the adjacent school. There would also be a seasonal grass toboggan area, outdoor play areas and picnic spots. Altitude Snow Park will be the first in Cornwall and be built at a time when the number of dry slopes in England is on a gradual decline. |
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Like the start of the 22-23 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup Tour the start of the French ski season this winter has been beset by problems. As with planned World Cup Races in Zermatt and Lech earlier this month, the problem has been not enough snow. That led Les 2 Alpes and Tignes to cancel planned glacier ski area openings in October and Val Thorens to delay its 'Grand premiere' opening weekend that should be on now, by a week. But it seems that just as the Women's 22-23 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup has finally got underway today, at the 4th attempt, at Levi in Finland, so Tignes, which also now has its 'Grand Opening' like Val Thorens' revised date next weekend, has snuck in to claim its traditional 'First to open in France' title. Albeit that used to be claimed by the resort, which was open 365 days a year back in the 1980s and 90s, at the end of September or in early October. The clue came late on Friday when the resort made a social media post stating, "Today we were in the storm. We're staying positive, tomorrow is going to be beautiful. Snow's great and sun will shine, the perfect day to come to our Glacier," with a picture of skiers.
The statement goes on to say that the red Glacier slope with a 450 m vertical drop is open, the same slope used by "mountain professionals and high-level sportsmen and women." |
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More and more US ski areas have announced that they're opening early for the season, many of them this weekend. A big factor in the big numbers opening has been cold weather and now snowfall in the East and Midwest of the country which had been seeing warmer than average temperatures preventing snowmaking systems from firing up. That's now changed though and man resorts have been snowmaking around the clock. Maine's Sunday River claimed the first to open in New England on Thursday (pictured top) with Vermont and Stowe among Vermont areas opening this weekend and Belleayre and Whiteface in New York state doing the same. Many of the destination resorts in the Western US have also now opened following above average snowfall for late October and the first half of November, some reporting more than six-feet already. Among the recently opened is the country's biggest ski area at Park City in Utah. Crystal Mountain and Mt Baker in Washington State are among resorts opening on the Pacific Coast this weekend. Mt Baker is the holder of the record for most ever ski area snowfall in a season, receiving 95 feet of snowfall in the 98-99 season. Many US ski areas are keen to open this weekend ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday period at the end pf next week. |
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The troubled Snow Factor indoor snow centre at Braehead, which has the longest indoor snow slope in the UK and was Scotland's only such facility, has closed down indefinitely. Braehead was originally built in 2004 and was part of the same company that also ran the Milton Keynes and Castleford indoor snow centres at the time. X Leisure was run at the time by P Y Gerbeau who had previously found fame bringing Disneyland to Paris. However it was sold off more than a decade ago and the operator of those two centres has also changed. The centre changed its name to Snow Factor in 2010. The company that had been operating the facility since then was placed into administration last December and subsequently proposals to bring the venture back to profitability have not emerged, leading to administrators now appointed a voluntary liquidator to dispose of the company's assets.
The mall and leisure centre where it is located, known as XSite, which also houses attractions including a cinema, Gravity, Climbzone and Paradise Island Adventure Golf as well as shops and restaurants, continues to operate as normal. Snow Factor's closure leave five indoor snow centres still open in the UK at Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Tamworth, Castleford and near Manchester. |
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The Swiss ski area of Andermatt say they'll open for the season this weekend, but they'll mostly be relying on snow stored over the summer and spread back out on the slopes, the technique known as snow-farming, as well as fresh snowmaking, rather than on natural snowfall. The centre, famous for its abundant natural snowfall most seasons, often having the deepest snow in Switzerland by the spring, had to delay opening its freeride slopes on the Gemstock which is had hoped would be operational from late October, due to the largely dry autumn in the Alps to date. The same conditions have led Val Thorens to announce a one-week delay in its planned opening this weekend, further delaying the start of the French season. However, Austria's Obergurgl and Obertauern appear still on course to start their seasons later this week. Andermatt say their Gurschen-flyer lift and associated slopes will operate for opening weekend and day tickets will be discounted by 30 percent. About 20 glacier areas are now open in the Alps, most in Austria or Switzerland.  |
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